


I tasted wheat in rosy youth

by Estirose



Category: 999: Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 00:19:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2831249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Light invites Junpei to come and solve a puzzle with him, but that's not all they discuss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I tasted wheat in rosy youth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Masu_Trout](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masu_Trout/gifts).



Junpei could be excused for not wanting to do any more puzzles. However, he was painfully aware that the world was a puzzle, and he had no choice but to solve a puzzle or two in his life. He had told himself to stop being so jumpy every time he ran across one - this wasn't the Nonary Game, this wasn't life or death, and the world wasn't going to end because he couldn't figure out.

He'd been corresponding with Snake - Light, he'd learned the man's name was - ever since they'd gotten out of that damned desert and through the very interesting traffic stop caused by Clover's driving and the passenger squeezed into the back seat with them.

He suspected that Light used programs on his own personal gear that allowed him to listen to and verbally reply to Junpei's written correspondence. Junpei found he liked writing things down - less confusion that way. It also allowed him to compose himself, write down what he thought, before the words came out of his mouth. Snake could have a wicked sense of humor, and he didn't want to be on the receiving end.

Light had been on the receiving end of one of Junpei's more thoughtful ponderings about the Nonary Game and Akane's role in it. Or at least Junpei thought they were thoughtful, which was kind of vague when it came down to it. But Light hadn't replied with anything sarcastic, just invited Junpei to come to his home, have some coffee, and solve a jigsaw puzzle with him. It would be a good thing, Light had said, to solve something that wasn't needed for survival.

Junpei had accepted, just to get away and to be with someone who would understand. He rang the bell by the gate of Light's house, knowing that even if Clover was out, it wasn't like Light needed help navigating, especially around his own home. The door opened, Light stepping out. "Snake!" he called out, waiting for his friend - or at least Junpei counted him as such, after all that had happened. "It's me, Junpei!"

"So I can tell," Light said dryly. He walked down the path and opened the gate for Junpei, and led him to the door. Junpei figured he wouldn't get in the way - even if Light was an excellent fighter, Junpei didn't want to be one of the unexpected obstacles he stumbled over. "Come in - I'm making some coffee."

How a blind guy made coffee, Junpei wasn't entirely sure. He remembered vaguely that there was a reality show that had a blind woman who could cook, or something like that. Something that required being able to use senses other than sight. Still, Light took him to a table, instructed him to sit down, and left, presumably to bring coffee for the two of them.

As he'd been doing ever since he'd survived Akane's version of the Nonary Game, Junpei glanced around the room. There were windows on one side, plants growing on the windowsill. Two walls were almost bare, a banner with clovers on one wall and a trio of oval frames with family pictures on the other. One was of an older woman, one an an older man, and the third was of Light and Clover. The last wall was the odd one out, with a set of Western classical style pictures.

He studied them because otherwise they would bug him, given his experiences. One was of a woman at the doorway to a cathedral, looking timidly at a monk, while the second was of the same woman sitting in a room, smiling bashfully at a young man in the clothes of a sculptor.

If this had been the ship... no, Area Q, he reminded himself - this would be a puzzle that he'd have to solve. But not here. Not now. This was where Light and Clover lived, not a dangerous building masquerading as an ocean liner.

Junpei looked down, to find an odd shape. No, he corrected himself, a jigsaw puzzle. It was entirely red, and from what he could tell of the assembled puzzle, circular. A hard puzzle, then, even if one could see. He started idly working on the puzzle.

A few minutes later, Light returned with several things on a tray. He put the tray down, lifting Junpei's coffee out carefully, and Junpei could see that he was trailing his fingers over the tray rim just to know where it was. A few moments later, he did the same with the cream and sugar, along with the carafe, removing his own cup last before putting it to one side. "Ah, you've started on the puzzle, I can tell."

"Habit," Junpei admitted. It wasn't habit before the Nonary Game, but it was now.

Light tilted his head. "I did the same thing years ago after the first game. Clover refused to have anything to do with puzzles, though."

"Yeah, I can't imagine why," Junpei said.

"Which is why it's a habit I continue on to this day." Light sipped at his coffee. Junpei tried his own and had to admit it was pretty good. "Even though I didn't think I'd ever go through it again, I wanted to stay ready."

"I... guess that's a good idea." He couldn't imagine going through the game again, like the siblings and Seven had to do. And Santa - Aoi - had to as well, though he'd been part of Akane's plan.

Junpei wished, and not for the first time, that Akane had stuck around to answer questions. What was she doing now? She'd left Hongou with them, so the two of them hadn't gone off to torture the CEO or anything like that.

"Take the pictures on that wall," Light said, motioning at the classical picures. "They're part of a set, five in total. Why do we have only these two? Clover tells me that they seem to be part of a story."

"Yeah, I wondered about that too," Junpei admitted. He got up to look at the pictures a little closer. The two paintings were titled "Hilda's Bargaining" and "Kenyon's Acceptance", but that didn't say anything about them, and he wasn't familiar with the names.

"All I know is that my parents like looking at them in the morning at breakfast, so that's why they're here."

Junpei nodded. It probably didn't mean anything. Not everything did.

"However, I think we can rest now." Light favored him with a smile, sipping a little at the coffee.

Looking down at the jigsaw puzzle, Junpei had to admire Light's calmness. He'd never been one to fly into hysterics as far as Junpei knew. It was why, even though all of them stayed in contact now, Junpei and Light were the closest of those left.

Maybe it was because Light provided the stability that Junpei needed while he figured out Akane. Even though he knew why she'd done it, he still needed to face her - and yet she seemed to have disappeared into thin air that day in the Nevada desert, making her friend wonder why.

"I know, but...." It wasn't a bad idea, being prepared. He realized there was pretty much no chance that he and Light would be going through the damned thing again, but it wouldn't hurt to keep thinking like Light had described. After all, wasn't that how people discovered things? "Did you get nightmares? After the first time."

Light raised his eyebrows. "Yes. Clover more than I, though I thought about what would have happened if Clover had perished like Akane had."

Junpei nodded. "I'm not going to forget what happened with Akane. She survived... and yet she didn't. It's very confusing." He remembered things he was sure he wasn't supposed to remember, he was sure. She was dead, and yet she wasn't dead.

Maybe she had died this time and he just didn't remember it. It might explain why he couldn't find her, because she didn't exist anymore.

"I would suspect so," Light said dryly. 

It probably didn't make sense to even those who had gone through it, Junpei had to admit. It didn't make sense to him, after all. 

"It's not like either one of us is going to go through this again," he reminded himself out loud. 

"I doubt it." Light gave a slight nod. "Shall we solve the puzzle? Or would you prefer to talk more?"

"I think I'd prefer something a little less confusing."

"So, the puzzle it is." Light was smiling ever wider. 

"I guess so." Junpei eyed it once more. It was definitely a puzzle that would be no easier for a sighted man than a blind one, given the fact that it was red. He wondered if his own abilities, combined with Light's, would help and then remembered that Light was a receiver and he was a transmitter.

Maybe that would work somehow. He wasn't sure of what to do, though. Still, they'd gotten along pretty well in the whole Nonary Game and after. Even if Light could sometimes be a little intimidating, with his sharp tongue - Junpei could remember well what had happened in the 1st class cabin, and couldn't help blushing - he still was a good friend.

Junpei took a sip of his coffee and studied the puzzle. As things went, as his life had recently gone, this was easy. Gentle.

Finding a random edge piece, he leaned towards the puzzle and started looking for a place where it would fit. As if realizing that he'd started, Light, too, leaned forward, working on his own part of it. It was strangely calming, and in this time, in this place, the puzzle-solving felt just right.


End file.
